Blind Guardian - Nightfall in Middle-Earth (1998)^{Release ID: 737}

Ah, Nightfall in Middle-Earth. The album that was my very first taste of my favorite band.

Hansi Kursch is at the peak of his vocal powers and delivers countless amazing melodies that would make God himself weep. There are guitar solos and harmonies that can only be described as pure gold in your ears. The compositions are constantly creative, each song bringing something new to the table and surprising you in a different way. This album is all at once triumphant and tender, sorrowful and energetic, grandiose and atmospheric, majestic and jubilant... So many emotions and feelings all wrapped up into a well-narrated storyline expanding upon Tolkien's The Silmarillion. It's... it's... just so beautiful! *Sighs*

Some selected highlights:

• "Into the Storm" is a rip-roaring opener with a remarkable solo
• "Nightfall" is the concert favorite with its subdued, mournful verses that explode into the big sing-along chorus
• "The Curse of Feanor" has the best of both worlds: speedy kickass riffs and drums right alongside some of Hansi's most heart-wrenching vocals.
• "Blood Tears" is a slower song, with a somber atmosphere and dramatic flair that come together perfectly.
• "Mirror Mirror" is quite possibly the song that best exemplifies Blind Guardian. It's the complete package. Amazing riffs, amazing melodies, amazing solo, amazing lyrics. It's simply an epic composition.
• "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)" is THE perennially underrated Blind Guardian song and the one that perhaps best captures the spirit of Tolkien with its beautiful lyrics and powerful atmosphere of tragedy.
• "The Eldar" is a short piano ballad a la "Black Chamber" that really showcases Hansi's vocal talents. His powerfully-delivered high-octave lines at the end send shivers down the spine.

...And many more.  I could go on and on describing why each song is so awesome, but I'm realizing that I cannot adequately capture with words the transcendence of the music on hand here. If you have any interest in power/progressive/speed metal, rock opera, OR fantasy... you need to experience Nightfall In Middle-Earth for yourself. If you enjoy all of these things.... oh-hoho, prepare to be spellbound!

The Guardian's King

The prince gazed out at the charred landscape, not a blade of grass to diversify the rolling hills. "Hath been years, my friend, and I still find ye here," said the old bard as he grasped the prince's shoulder. "Reminiscing of our grand journey?" The prince sighed, his eyes fixated on the horizon. "I've changed, haven't I?" said the prince in a monotone, low voice. The old bard dropped his hand from the prince's shoulder and joined him on the balcony overlooking the wasteland. "Nay, we are indeed not the spry young gaggle anymore," murmured the bard. "But those days are behind you, much as many more days are behind me." The prince finally averted his gaze to eye the old bard to his side. "Don't you long for them, though?" The bard quietly chuckled much in the way he did in the tavern many, many years ago. "There are journeys of all kinds, my friend, you know this," said the bard. "All journeys are not equal," the prince said shortly, and the bard acknowledged him with a smile. "Ye shall make a mighty fine king," said the bard gently, and the prince's stare immediately shot back to the horizon. "We've conquered much. Strolled through the gilded halls. Fought the hoards. Sat atop the throne. I doubt the life of a king will ever suit me. I plan to write of our adventure then look for others, my friend," said the prince in the same monotone voice. The bard cracked another smile and grasped his friend's shoulder again. "Our journey shall make a fine tale, my king." A slight smile finally escaped the prince's emotionless face as he wrapped his arm around his friend's shoulders. "Not just a tale. A swan song."

Blind Guardian had a legendary run in the 1990's, beginning with the rough around the edges Tales From the Twilight World, evolving into the experimental and aggressive Somewhere Far Beyond, and culminating with the epic Imaginations From the Other Side. These three albums showcased Power Metal's ability to create blisteringly heavy and fast riffs while still maintaining a fun and fantastical atmosphere with incredible vocals, guitar passages, and overall great songwriting. Blind Guardian weren't finished though, since Imaginations From the Other Side showed a transition to a fuller and more epic sound with less and less Speed Metal influence. They wanted to follow up their epic sounding 1995 album with something bigger, with more fantasy influences, an actual plot of sorts, and have it be just as heavy and compelling as their previous works. Nightfall In Middle-Earth was Blind Guardian's attempt to go bigger in all of these categories and while succeeding in some, they left a bit of what made them phenomenal behind.

It's no secret that a lot of Power Metal bands are fantasy fans, with most of their music being centered around epic journeys with dragons and magical swords or some sort of intergalactic hijinks. Blind Guardian are massive proponents of these themes, with many of their previous songs and albums containing many, many explicit references to the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, but they never went all the way with any sort of storytelling aspect or concept album. Nightfall in Middle-Earth, as the title itself suggests, is Blind Guardian's attempt to finally go the extra mile and introduce a full story into one of their albums complete with many small, plot-centric interludes and a sort of cohesive story. Thankfully they break the mold from the very beginning, giving the listener a story centered on an evil villain king rather than the over-utilized chosen hero of destiny. It gives the album a darker and more twisted feel, which fits Blind Guardian's overall style much better than the alternative, not to mention the album claims the evil king does end up taking over during the conclusion. Each of the short interludes after most of the full length songs are rather dark, giving a bit more insight on the evil king's rise to power as he makes his way across the lands. Some are certainly better than others, with "The Minstrel" and "Out On the Water" being two of the most out of place, but it's a very interesting concept to use that's still pretty unique to this day. It gets confusing when one of the interludes leads into an intro within the next song, like the transition between "Lammoth" and "Nightfall" as well as between "Face the Truth" and "Noldor (Dead Winter Reigns)", but most of the transitions end up hitting their mark well enough.

Nightfall In Middle-Earth tries its hardest to one-up Imaginations From the Other Side in terms of bombast, adding even more choirs, more orchestra, and an overall more theatrical performance from vocalist Hansi Kürsch. Kürsch has always been the cornerstone of Blind Guardian's music, with his distinct and powerful Power Metal voice able to tackle all kinds of different ranges and styles. Thanks to Nightfall In Middle-Earth's slower tempos and more progressive tendencies, Kürsch's cleaner style gets more time to shine in tracks like "Thorn" and "The Eldar", a style which was normally only shown in the shorter ballad pieces in previous albums. "The Curse of Feanor" and "Mirror Mirror" show that Kürsch still has the aggression in his voice as well, making this album his most varied and impressive performance to date. Sadly in order to highlight the vocals the rest of the band takes a bit too much of a backseat, with the guitar and drums being pushed back further in the mix, which marks the shift into a less accented but more cohesive production style. Kürsch's vocals and choirs are very much the focal point of most of these songs and thankfully Blind Guardian's lyricism and vocal songwriting continued to improve as to eliminate most of the awkward and overly simple lines the band had in previous albums.

Nightfall In Middle-Earth was certainly Blind Guardian's most ambitious project to date with wanting to combine more epic orchestral and story-telling elements, so it's not surprising that something had to suffer in order to move forward. Somewhere Far Beyond and Imaginations From the Other Side garnered their monumental sounds from speed, a bit of aggression, and very intelligently written parts that accented one another in ways that gave the tracks this torridly heavy feeling. Nightfall In Middle-Earth tries to gain this same grand sound by adding more moving parts, whether it's more choir, more orchestra, or more synth effects in the background, and while it does create a full and huge sound, it never strikes me in the same way that their two previous albums did. The guitar and drum rhythms are a bit more muddied together and while Kürsch sounds fantastic, the rest of the band sounds like it's just going through the motions sometimes and it's harder to pick out the cool little flourishes that were all over Imaginations From the Other Side. "Mirror Mirror", "Time Stands Still (At The Iron Hill)", and "When Sorrow Sang" are still great standouts from the instrumental side of Blind Guardian as they attempt to bring that energy and tight performance they're known for, but the album as a whole lacks a lot of the impact the band had before.

This is easily the most different and diverse album from Blind Guardian's 1990's run and although the changes that they made to their sound to facilitate the new fantasy story elements were necessary, I think it was a slight step down in quality. Nightfall In Middle-Earth is a perfect example of classic power metal that can strive to be epic but not completely overblown like much of today's Power Metal, with Twilight Force being one of the few bands to have any sort of monumental success in my opinion. Once a certain threshold of cheesiness is passed there's no going back, and thankfully Nightfall In Middle-Earth is very good at not really getting close to that line. Some of the interludes and lyrics are still pretty silly, but the darker themes and Kürsch's delivery keeps the album in the "cool Tolkien references" side of Power Metal. However the music itself is a bit less memorable and while the album functions amazingly as a cohesive whole, standout moments are few and far between. The choruses of "Nightfall", "Mirror Mirror", and some of the well done interlude voices are infectious, but much of the album starts to bleed together after a while. Everything that made Blind Guardian great is still here, it's just diluted and a bit simplified in order to make room for their grand fantasy vision.

I think this was a fantastic album for classic Blind Guardian to go out on, since A Night at the Opera and A Twist in the Myth would begin to compound on some of the slight problems that were present in this album. They returned to form in 2010's At the Edge of Time but proceeded to stray farther from what originally made them great in 2015's Beyond the Red Mirror. Tales From the Twilight World, Somewhere Far Beyond, and Imaginations From the Other Side really helped to lay the groundwork for Blind Guardian to attempt their swan song concept album, and for all intents and purposes they nailed it. The story isn't exactly coherent, some of the interludes are worthless or strange, and the band feels a little tired and less accented, but the full package is still utterly fantastic. The songwriting is complex and interesting, Kürsch absolutely kills the vocal performance, and they finally got to fully indulge in their fantasy worshiping tenancies. Nightfall In Middle-Earth is still a Power Metal classic in my book, and while it's a shame that Blind Guardian couldn't keep up with the sort of quality they had in the 1990's, it's awesome that they were able to create a truly epic sounding album while not falling into the traps that so many other Power Metal bands fall into. 

Blind Guardian’s first full on epic concept album exclusively focused on Middle-Earth lore, and this one seemed to be a breakthrough for them. Overall, the style is a bit softer, focusing more on varied instrumentation (folk and classical acoustics, as well as some keys) and hyper anthemic gang vocal choruses. Power Metal is still the core here, but it’s more progressive and less aggressive, and plenty of songs stray from the genre entirely.

The meat of the album is very strong, compelling, passionate and catchy. The concept story is an added bonus, but the music is plenty entertaining without it, and the tracks totally stand on their own. Despite this, I will say it’s decidedly less to my taste than their more aggressive fare.

In order to make the album flow more like a story, Blind Guardian added short spoken word interludes between almost every track, and I gotta say… I do not think that was the play. The 11 regular tracks are great, but the TWENTY TWO total tracks just makes this ridiculously hard to listen to front to back. It also makes the album very difficult to rate. The main tracks are top quality as usual, but the segues are boring and ruin the flow. Unfortunately I cannot simply ignore them, and they make this probably my least favorite release they had done at the time.